Kiefer for President

Kiefer Sutherland has had plenty of experience saving America on television, thanks to his nine seasons playing counterterrorism super-agent Jack Bauer on the classic Fox action series “24,” and its miniseries sequel, “24: Die Another Day.”

Now, six years after the initial series went off the air and two years after “Die Another Day,” Sutherland is returning to television with ABC’s new series, “Designated Survivor,” in which he’s set to save the nation in a different way.

Far-fetched premise is actually more rooted in potential reality far more than Jack Bauer’s ever were.

Sutherland plays Tom Kirkman, a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary who’s forced to become president when a bomb blows up the U.S. Capitol building during the State of the Union Address, killing the president and everyone else in the Cabinet, Congress, and the Supreme Court.

While this may sound like a far-fetched premise, it’s actually more rooted in potential reality than “24” ever was.

That’s because the United States actually maintains a designated survivor, who is usually a U.S. Cabinet member and is hidden in a distant, secure, and undisclosed location when the president and the country’s other top leaders are gathered at a single location, such as during State of the Union addresses and presidential inaugurations.

The idea, established by the Presidential Succession Act — which was enacted during the Cold War as a way to protect the U.S. government in case of a nuclear attack — is to provide “continuity of government” in case of any disaster or attack that would kill the president and the rest of the people in the government’s line of succession.

[lz_ndn video=31396864]

One other factor ups the stakes for Sutherland’s character in the ABC series: Kirkman was on the outs with the just-killed president, due to unspecified housing policy disagreements that were about to force him to resign his Cabinet post the next day.

So, while he’s already in so much shock over his sudden responsibility as the de facto leader of the world that he nervously vomits in a bathroom stall, he has to contend with overhearing a presidential speechwriter (Kal Penn) complaining that no one respects him because of his having just had pariah status.

This all adds up to create a very juicy premise for the show, establishing intrigue both in the public world that Kirkman and the government have to quickly maintain the confidence of, and in the private behind-the-scenes machinations where the wheels of government actually turn.

Yet while viewers might tune in expecting to see Sutherland turn into a butt-kicking president who dives into action — a la Jamie Foxx’s president in 2013’s absurdly enjoyable “White House Down” — the pilot of “Designated Survivor” serves up Kirkman’s situation as a psychological thriller.

Not only does Kirkman have to deal with his sudden ascension to power and underlings that have no confidence in him, but he also has to contend with the fact that the Iranian government appears to be taking advantage of the situation by placing warships in a key shipping channel for oil. As soon as he arrives in the War Room to consult with the Joint Chiefs of Staff about military matters, Kirkman is faced with a general eager to scramble jets and start threatening Iran with war — despite the fact that there is no indication of what person or country is responsible for the Capitol attack.

[lz_ndn video=30810426]

Thus, the show immediately thrusts viewers into following Kirkman through a situation fraught with peril. At the same time, he also has his longtime wife, teenage son, and young daughter to worry about, as their lives are also abruptly turned upside down when they are whisked to safety in their new home at the most famous residence in the world: the White House.

“Designated Survivor” doesn’t seem to wear its politics on its sleeve, as Kirkman’s political party is unspecified in the premiere (a tactic also employed in HBO’s political sitcom “Veep,” to keep its satire focused on both sides of the aisle).

One might suspect that a HUD secretary would lean liberal, since housing is often portrayed as a social justice issue — but it is never made clear in the pilot whether Kirkman was on the way out because his policies were too liberal or too conservative for his predecessor.

“Designated Survivor” doesn’t seem to wear its politics on its sleeve, as Kirkman’s political party is unspecified in the premiere.

That alone makes this different in tone than “24,” which was widely considered to be a rare network TV program with a strongly conservative political bent. In fact, one of the co-creators of “24” was Joel Surnow, who also created “The ½ Hour News Hour,” a comedy show that Surnow himself described as “‘The Daily Show’ for conservatives.”

There are signs that the show will develop into one with a conservative bent, as Kirkman gives the Iranian ambassador a firm demand that his warships leave the shipping channel within three hours or face the dire military consequences his generals were demanding instantly.

Related: Whatever Happened to Admirable Presidents?

The show’s strong subplot about his  marriage and family are also solidly portrayed, and Kirkman calls for a moment of silence for the dead government officials despite the fact that he enters the War Room while it’s in a state of chaos. In a more directly spiritual moment, Kirkman personally adds the phrase “so help me God” to his oath of office (taken with his hand on a clearly mentioned Bible), even when the person officiating the vow doesn’t require him to say that.

It all adds up to a promising enough start that fans of “24” and other patriotic programming should find some hope that this series is itself one of the new season’s survivors.